Because he'd make all the diff between mediocre and great?

_________________
"I had to eat"

Relax people.

Davies has had good form and deserves a chance.

The game won't be lost in our defense anyway, we clearly have the midfield advantage, CLEARLY, so if we lose it's due to a poor midfield performance and/or poor forward line.

I am a fan of Carlos, but as I think someone else said before, the longer he is out of the side, the better he becomes

_________________

Now Davies I didn't see coming at all. He has had one half decent game and a number of so-so efforts in the 'Ants. There is no way he is pushing for selection on merit. Secondly he is simply not a KPD - at 188cm he's giving up too much height to anyone they might play him on except Crameri, but if they play him on Crameri then Laidler's being asked to give up way too much height. Thornton could go back, but then we have only the resting ruckman over 190cm down forward. Are you going to ask them to go to CHF? Or send Walker there to get smashed? Setanta if thought right to play or Austin otherwise, else leave Watson in and not risk destroying his confidence, all better options than Davies. Still, a wet night (not currently predicted) and/or a dominant midfield and it might not come back to haunt us - here's hoping!

How many here even watch Carlos train this week or last?

Too many here honestly think they know more than the blokes on the MC.
The MC spend all day 6 days a week with the players, living and breathing football, they know what they are trying to do on the field and what they need to achieve that. You need to concede they know more about than us. Once you have done that you can sit back and try and understand what they are thinking. Most of the time it makes sense. The MC are not trying to lose games.

Ratts said in the presser last week that they were going to work on killing marking contests so they can bring down the oppositions count. I am sure the work has been done during the week and by the looks of things it has involved the way players approach marking contests and helping one another out. It looks like they didnt just say " lets put big blokes in that will fix things". Of course they didnt say that because that would rob us of the things that make us good. Run and pressure at ground level. Henda is tall. He was on CLoke. Cloke took 6 contested marks. Height isnt the issue.

Watch the way we go about the way we approach marking contests as a team this week. That will be the way we know if our coaches are onto things.

Its the selectors way of thinking that is a worry.

- Ellard has barely had a touch for weeks. Why keep playing him.
- Did not have a marking tall last week. So what happens. Go even shorter this week.
- If a tall is injured, say Henderson, how many other genuine KPP players over 193cm do we have. NONE.
- Austin who is in form can play BOTH ends of the ground. If the bummers load their foward or back lines he could be the swingman. And he is a genuine tall with pace. But a non selection.

And our forward press has been getting worse as the season has progressed. Against colonwood it was just too spread out. Every time Davis had the ball I was screaming to close up. If I could see it, what were the geniuses in the coaches box doing?

Apart from that everything is fine and the blues by 49 points.

_________________
"Get ready, Teddy - you're on": Ron Barassi half time 1970 Grand Final

Just got back and it is good to see that pessimism still reigns at TC.

The smaller line up is going to do well on the MCG (Esssendon have won once here in their last 11 games, they won 2 weeks ago against Richmond who were leading by 22 points in the 3rd quarter) even if there is no rain, the ground will be dewy and on the deck for most of the match. We have a better midfield and should give our forwards plenty of chances.

I am so confident I took another $100 bet on the game with my sucker Essendon* mate to go on top of the $500 bet I had that we would finish above them after the H/A matches.

No worries - Blues by a lazy 6 goals

_________________
The time is right, the time is NOW !!

no Bower, no worries

_________________
Between our dreams and actions lies this world

Looks like Betts is the lead up CHF again


I guess we will bomb it on his head again

_________________
Cheats never prosper (except in the AFL)

I'll miss his searching runs to, to, to...not even he knows

_________________
"I had to eat"

Much better balanced side!

Touhy to go to back pocket with Yarran up to a flank. Gibbs in the midfield. Betts sub!

_________________
#NewBlues beginning 25th August 2015

Win the midfield, win the match.

That's the crux of it.

_________________
"One of my favorite philosophical tenets is that people will agree with you only if they already agree with you. You do not change people's minds." - Frank Zappa

Geez Jim, you're gunna implode soon if they don't drop your whipping boy some time ...

_________________
I just want my old club back ... (edit) maybe I have!

Based on what I have seen with some selections this year, I honestly believe that I have the right to challenge the logic behind selections...and even more scarily, dare to suggest I may know more about how the players are going then the people who spend 6 days a week with them

1. Have the MC not already conceded that they "rushed" Hendo back in rd 3 too early ???
2. Have the MC not admitted mistakes by dropping Watson after one week...when he was plucked from the ants after hardly appearing in the ant's best more than once ???
3. Ditto re Austin ???
4. Did the MC have it right by playing Warnock for a number of weeks while Hammo was rotting away at Cramer St ?

Yep Judd is playing

_________________
I support the Navy Blues whatever happens!

I really feel for Austin, I thought he's be certainty for this game seeing all other tall options are unavailable. He may as well pack his bags now.

Ellard has been crap of late, last week had only 8 possessions - must have been quality... Brock has double this and this forum bags the shit out of him. Go figure!


Anyway, let's hope we win the midfield battle otherwise it may turn into marking practice in our backline...

_________________
“I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned.” ― Richard Feynman

So do you want us to just cheer wildly every week at no matter who gets selected.?

It's a fan forum FFS, people have favourites.

Remember every club has an MC who watch every day of every week, doesn't mean they get it right. Just like every club has a recruiting officers.

I've backed the MC every week this year, even with mistakes. I would like Setanta in, he's not, I'm p1ssed and so i'm saying so. If he's injured, that's another story, but we've seen bombing into the forwardline to little people to often. I want some height.

_________________
I hope Essendon* folds.

Its not a perfect science. Mistakes will be made. You could find mistakes in Collingwoods selections last year and they won the flag.

You dont know more about selecting players for carlton than the blokes in the MC. I can confidently say that. None of us do.

The MC have a plan and they have selected accordingly. Id say the detected that the bombers really struggle when under intense pressure like what they copped from Crows last week. They also noted that they are capable of running out games.
What do you do? You pick a team that is capable of matching their late run and a team that is capable of getting into position to pull off the press for as long in a game as possible.

They identified last week that we are getting outmarked too easy. What do you do add talls to an already tall side (last week we even had an extra tall). No you look at the tapes and realise that you were probably too tall and couldnt keep rotations around the ball to keep heat on it. Kick coming into the back 50 too fluently and favouring the forwards. Also playing a more mobile team will help us get more numbers to marking contests to kill the contest.

Lets see if these tactics work.

On your point 4 - I think that the jury is still out as to who is the better value of the two. I think that it is pretty line ball at the moment. Both can win their fair share of the taps. Warnock seems to get more to advantage. Both of them couldn't catch a cold. i.e hold on to a mark ! Both of them are unreliable kicks for goal from any distance. Warnock seems to be better with handball, and at ground level they are pretty even. Interesting that we have three good ruckmen and none of them can take a contested mark.

How has he been training? What is his fitness like? WHat are the chances his hand could get injured again and leaves us a man down?
WHere is his head at? Will a couple of weeks in the twos be better for him and the team in the long run? Are they planning on bringing him in for someone late?

I wasnt suggesting cheering the selections but I personally believe the selection guys come up with a plan a pick accordingly. I reckon we would be better discussing what we think they are up to rather than venting because it didnt go the way we wanted.